History

"Je Suis Rick Springfield" was mentioned by Coulton in concert long before Artificial Heart was released. At the time he revealed only the title, and that the song is performed entirely in French. Coulton spoke of the song's genesis in its music video's premiere on Spinner.com:

"The idea for this song came from some long rambling conversation I had with JF (John Flansburgh from They Might Be Giants) about songwriting, and Rick Springfield, and pop songs in French," Coulton tells Spinner. "Somewhere at the end of that chat he said, 'You should write a song in French about a guy who’s trying to convince someone that he is Rick Springfield.' It seemed like a good challenge that would produce some interesting results. I put on my '80s hat and it sort of wrote itself from there."

To introduce the debut performance at PAX 2011, he explained that the song is about a guy in a bar in France, trying to convince some young ladies that he is Rick Springfield. Whether or not the character is actually Rick Springfield is left up to the listener to decide.

Live performance

The first live performance in Seattle on August 27, 2011 can be seen on YouTube.

Availability

"Je Suis Rick Springfield" is available on the album Artificial Heart, which can be ordered through Coulton's website or on iTunes or through Zune.

John Flansburgh directed a music video for this song, though in the video a different arrangement is utilized. The video was shot with Canon 5D cameras with "nicer lenses".[1]